Pawel

Gennulman - please let me post some corrections - that's actually not KAZ, but KrAZ - the same make that started this thread, but a newer truck (the one with the rig). ZIL is actually "Zavod Imyenya Likhacheva" - the Likhachev Works. They were formerly called ZIS - "Zavod Imyenya Stalina", but around 1956 the name changed to honour the long year manager of the factory. And Tatra is a Czech factory with over 100 years tradition of making automobiles. Thanks for reading, have a nice day Pawel

Oh yeah - we could tell 'em the stories about how the livin' is in the wild east - the land of freedom and the land of possibilities But the winter is cold this year, got to grant you that - I still have trouble getting my diesel to run. Let's hope the spring will get here soon! Have a nice day Pawel

Hey Vlad! Thanks a lot for your comment! While metalics seem to cover allright, I noticed they are a little tricky - the colour gets a little deeper with each coat, so then it's easy to get in trouble with mismatched shades on parts that were painted separatey but then join together - like the cab, the hood and in my case - the roof that was painted separately. For my model, I chose the colours because I liked them. I heard about the trick with white - I have yet to try it out - sounds interesting. As for the winter - it's harsh but not unusual in western Poland - the temperature drops below -15 degrees at night and about -10 at daytime. I was forced to buy a new battery for my car though, and started using diesel fuel additive to keep it running smooth. In eastern Poland they said at times it dropped below -30 degrees - now that starts to get bad. Lots of people already froze to death this winter. Olivetroad - you know we're talking degrees Celsius here, right? -30 deg C are -22 Fahrenheit, -20 deg C are -4 Fahrenheit and -10 deg C are 14 Fahrenheit. Still very cold, can't wait for the spring. Thanks for reading, have a nice day Paweł

Olivetroad, umodelnut, DodgeMan - thanks a lot for your kind words. Not much left for me to post in this one, the stripes now need some clear coat and very careful sanding between the coats. Once that's done, I'll post some more photos. The rest of my build can be seen in another thread here, and I intend to continue to update that one. Glad you like it - thanks again for your comments and have a nice day Pawel

Mark - thanks a lot. I have yet to get this Pactra tape to try it out. I know Tamiya tape though - a little hard to get in the shops around here, but a very good material. I write, to show you, what I managed to do about the cab and the hood to match the sleeper. I don't have the photo of the stage, when the cab and hood were white and masked, but since I applied the base colour, my work wnet like this: Masking "reversed": Two layers of gloss black and one layer of prismatic paint later: And after the masking was completely removed - a few problems are there, but working on the sleeper I found out most of them can be taken care of using the tip of a surgical blade: Thanks for reading, have a nice day Paweł

Rob - thanks a lot for your comment, glad you like my colours. Yeah, the tape is crepe paper, I took it because it came cut to 1mm width, that seemed to save a lot of time cutting. I have yet to find a good vinyl masking tape, it would be good to compare them. slpwlkr - thanks! Mark - Thanks a lot. That's yes and no, the red paint came in a can, the black base and the prismatic paint were applied by airbrush. You're right, airbrush gives much lighter coats, just for bigger surfaces I'd need a larger nozzle for it, otherwise I wouldn't get a nice shiny surface on bigger objects. I haven't seen "Pactra" tape yet, I don't know if you can buy it in Europe. I'll take a look And now on to the cab and the hood! Let's see if I can improve my process. Thanks again for your help and your comments, have a nice day Paweł

Hello again! Here's what I managed to do. First, I painted the sleeperbox white, then I laid out the stripes with thin tape: After that, I sprayed some white again - it was an idea I picked up watching some german house improvement show. The idea is: should paint sip under the tape, let it be the same colour. After it dried, I masked the area where the stripe would be and started applying the base colour - unfortunately it needed some three coats to really cover - bad for the "step" where the colours meet: After the base colour dried, I had to "reverse" the mask - uncover the stripes and mask the base colour: Then I applied black primer: And after it was dry, I went to town - green to brown to gold prismatic paint: Then the thrilling moment came, to remove the masking. Here's what was underneath: As can be seen, some red paint still managed to seep under the tape, but I think I can work on it. There is also a distinctive "step" where the colours meet, but I hope I can improve it some with clear coat. How do you like my colour choice? Thanks a lot for your help, and thanks for reading, have a nice day Paweł

Thanks Rob! I already heard that, and I even already know what happens if I don't - but I still need to remind myself that - so I'll try to do it as you said. Thanks again for your advice, have a nice day Paweł

Rob, Mark - thanks a lot, very helpful advice here. I just started working yesterday, let's see what comes out. I'll let you know. Have a nice day Paweł

Rob - thanks a lot for your answer! So you kinda "fill" the recessed area (with less paint) with clear, to equalize it, do I understand it right? Could you also say more on "pulling the tape free against itself"? I don't quite understand this one. Thanks again for your help, I'll let you know how it worked for me. Have a nice day Paweł

Hello everybody! I wanted to paint some stripes on a truck (truck model, but still!). So would like to ask you how to avoid two main problems I've seen before: 1. Paint seepeing under the masking tape, ruining the edge 2. A distinctive "step" where the colours meet Some help would really be appreciated! Thanks in advance, have a nice day Paweł

Yeah, that's just unfair - you haul two full fuel tanks with you and still run out of fuel, ain't that bad? A friend once told me, he had seen a truck that ran out of fuel in Germany - he was standing on the crossing, at the street lights. The irony of it was this crossing is located exactly between a small gas station (like 50 meters away) and a large truck stop with it's own large gas station (not more than 200 meters away). Anyhow, I hope you won't get more trouble with this fuel system anymore, good luck with your trucks and have a nice day Paweł

I'm glad you mastered this one. Sometimes it's simple and still that doesn't mean it's easy to figure out. Good luck with your truck and have a nice day Paweł

Hello! I see there's a real problem to solve. While I can't help you with specific details, I thought I could offer some theory. For one - this effect where the bounce dissapears above 22 mph and returns at 44 mph. The physics describe similar effects as resonance. Resonance appears, where an object receives a vibration at a specific frequency - or it's multiple (called a harmonic). Then it starts vibrating very violently, sometimes to the point, where it gets destroyed. In school they often cite the unit of soldiers, marching on a bridge. If they "hit" the specific frequency of the bridge with their marching, they can even collapse the bridge (that even happened a few times before the army got trucks for their soldiers). So in your case the wheels turning are always slightly out of ballance - no perfecion in this world. Changing speed changes the frequency of vibration, that is transmitted through the suspension to the frame and so on. Once this frequency meets the specific or resonance frequency of something (yeah - tha's the big question - what is vibrating exactly?) it starts vibrating like shown on the video. How do you think - what could be that something? Is it the frame? Or is it the front suspension? Maybe it's the cab on its mount? Did you try your truck heavily loaded? Is it stil bouncing under load? How to stop that? Normally the theory says you should introduce more damping in the setup. If the frame was vibrating, you should make it stiffer - tighten the bolts, install another crossmember? If it's the front suspension, maybe a damper could help? Anyhow, I hope you can save the day, wish you good luck with your truck, and have a nice day Paweł

Is this the reason they put the steering box on the front axle on Cruiseliners and Superliners I? Have a nice day Paweł

Mark always has nice pictures to post!

Hey Vladislav - greetings from Poland! I thought you only had Internationals in Russia, as far as the American trucks go. Congratulations on your Mack, any chances you'll be going through Poland? I'd sure like to take a look. Good luck with your machine, have a nice day Paweł

There's this story circulating around... Where a man and his wife are lying in bed, and the wife says: "We didn't have sex for so long..." and the man says "Maybe you!" And then the fight started...

Hello! This is a very well known truck here, where I live. It was made by the KrAZ works. The solo version of this machine is called KrAZ-255 and is a ten ton truck, but there are many versions with different designations. Ten years ago they were still very popular as construction site dump trucks. In Russia they are also used extensively by the military, as fire trucks and by state-owned companies. There are also all wheel drive variants: Hope you like it, have a nice day Paweł

In western Europe it's generally agreed upon to use white for all horizontal (on the road surface) markings. One exception is temporary markings - like on the construction sites. Then yellow paint is used. I believe it's removable - or more easily removable than the white paint, because the regulation say, as long as there are the yellow markings, they override what the white markings say. And somehow in Europe there's no need to separate traffic going in different directions - somehow people always know who's going where. Ain't the diversity of the world really cool? Have a nice day Paweł

I always say it's because of the weather! Summer is so damn dangerous - you just can't concentrate on the road! Thanks a lot for the pictures, have a nice day Paweł

Really cool info here!

Yeah - didn't I tell you? Have a nice day Paweł

Now that's very interesting!

From what I hear, the guys talking (the luckys) are Russian! So that's a bit like the Irish luck Pazdravlyayu! Paweł